What do you get when you take a group of people who hang onto the ideas and philosophies ofFriedrich Nietzscheand follow them as they strike out on their own to create a very specific version of paradise? We’ll give you a hint — there’s certainly nothing utopian about it. Academy Award-winning filmmaker,Ron Howardwill bring the stranger-than-fiction true story of a group of Europeans who left their worlds behind to create a new way of living in his upcoming feature,Eden. During a roundtable discussion atthe Karlovy Vary International Film Festivalthat included Collider’s Editor-in-Chief,Steve Weintraub, one ofEden’s stars,Daniel Brühlopened up about the film’s plot, the beliefs that drove its main characters, and how he got involved with Howard’s film in the first place.
Setting the scene, Brühl explained that at the heart ofEdenis the story of survival and a push for a better life. “It’s about a bunch of people who wanted to leave Europe and Germany— the Germans — traumatized after the First World War and the depression and aftermath of all that and trying to create a new way of life.” This hope for something more would carry them far away off the coast of Ecuador to the Galápagos Islands where they would strike out on their own, with Brühl adding:
“Some of theminfluenced by the philosophy of Nietzsche, which was then very in vogue, but basically creating an Eden —creating an alternative way of livingfar away from civilization and of all places on the Galápagos Islands, which were a harsh piece of land. Not the coconut paradise that you would think of, but that was also part of the idea — to make it there is very Nietzsche-like. But then what happens if you try to create paradise, and it starts like it with one couple, and then other people are attracted and come together, thenparadise can very quickly turn into hell.So this is roughly — without spoilering anything — what this film is about, because it ends up in a horrific way.”
‘Eden’ Is a Project More Than a Decade in the Making
Addressing the time it took to getEdenup and running, Brühl said that Howard first approached him when the pair was working on the 2013 biographical sports feature,Rush. After hearing nothing more about it for ten years, Brühl presumed that Howard wasn’t pursuing the project, but after the director visited the set of Brühl’s,Becoming Karl Lagerfeld, plans were up and running.Back in December, Collider’s Lead News EditorMaggie Lovittspoke with Brühl, who shared the story of how things came together on the set of the Disney+ miniseries. He said:
“Now, 10 years later, I was shootingKarl Lagerfeldin Paris when I got a call from him. ‘Hi, this is Ron. I’m in Paris. Can I visit you on set?’ It’s also so sweet that he’s curious in what I’m doing, and, ‘Can I come to set?’ The French team, they were so nervous that Ron was showing up that nothing worked on that day, so I think that it was a complete disaster, but there he was, polite and generous and kind as he was, with his base[ball] cap. Then, at the end of the day, he said, ‘Do you remember that Galápagos project? I’m doing it. Would you be so kind as to read the script?’ And I said, ‘Ron, man, you’re wonderful.’”
Who’s In ‘Eden’?
Brühl was also quick to point outthe all-star castthat Howard had assembled for his latest feature, telling Lovitt:
“And now we are here with an incredible cast,Felix[Kammerer] being one of them. Yeah, I just had a couple of scenes withJudeLawthis week. He’s an incredible actor and man. He’s so passionate and his energy is so contagious. It’s wonderful working with him. It’s my first time that I have the pleasure to be working with him. It’s an absolute blast. So it is withVanessa[Kirby], withAna De Armas,Sydney Sweeney, [and]Toby Wallace. I mean, it’s a stellar cast, so I’m really having a great time, and Ron hasn’t changed a bit. He’s still the same.”
As of right now,Edenhasn’t set a release date but stay tuned to Collider for more information about the film.
